swim bladder problem i think

hello
i have an adult red empress which i think has a swim bladder problem ,he sort of struggles to stay a float.sits on bottom of tank for a couple of seconds and then swims up and then sort of gradually bfalls to botonm again ,no other fish are showing any signs of anything wrong and no water quality issues.any ideas anybody
john

Do you have any other similar sized/aged red empress in the tank?

This could be a swim-bladder problem, but may also be something hampered by a gut problem. (and one can lead to the other anyway).

What about colour changes? In case there is a brain damage effect.

Any other symptoms?

Without a full diagnosis, I would recommend good partial water change and add some bicarb to buffer the water slightly as a starting point.

ian

no ian no other empress with him ,and no other obviose symtoms will add some more bicarb to see if that helps
thanks
john

If this is swim-bladder problem then it could be tricky to work out what has gone wrong and the best way to treat.

Causes of swim-bladder trouble in cichlids is often different to the causes in fish like goldfish. There could be a bacterial infection towards the kidney. In fish like goldfish it is probably more often gut-linked (as the swim-bladder in goldfish is associated with the gut)

As a first suggestion, I said to add some bicarb. If this were tanganyikan I'd have said epsom salts instead. The main reason is to increase the TDS somewhat as that can help.

Temperature could be increased a little towards 80F if the other malawis are species tolerating that temp.

If this is swim-bladder disease then there is likely to be a bacterial infection....but, I'm not too sure what medications are available in ireland that will not destroy your biological filtration. JBL Furanol 2 has ingredients that should tackle Aeromonas bacteria, but it will play havoc with biological filters.
Hence, why I didn't suggest it as the first port of call. There may be other treatments available in Ireland (not sure though).

If there is a high amount of Aeromonas bacteria in the tank then increase water movement and make sure gravel is well vacuumed.

I would also add Tetra AquaSafe as that may decrease stress and sap-up heavy metals.....that should increase the immunity a little.

Hope some of that helps (and I am only guessing in respect of the diagnosis).

Ian